Trump Corruption

The Guardian reports: Election experts and voting watchdogs say Lindell’s legal blitz to ditch voting machines, and other drives that sustain Trump’s baseless claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, are deeply flawed and dangerous and potentially further damage voter confidence in elections. Lindell though sounds undaunted, telling the Guardian that he has spent about $30m to retain about …

The Washington Post reports: Donald Trump is leaving Pennsylvania Avenue again. The Trump name at the former president’s D.C. hotel — on facade signs, linens, bar napkins and coasters — is set to be removed after the sale of his government lease for the property to CGI Merchant Group for a record-setting $375 million. Miami-based CGI Merchant is partnering with …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump lashed out on Wednesday at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over his plans to campaign with a handful of current and former GOP governors ahead of his May 24 primary contest against former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). “Today, the worst ‘election integrity’ Governor in the country, Brian Kemp, loaded the great state of Georgia up …

CNN reports: A New York judge on Wednesday lifted the civil contempt finding against former President Donald Trump, assuming certain conditions are met, and ordered him to pay $110,000 in fines. The judge said all of the conditions — including providing a description of the Trump Organization’s document retention and destruction policy and reviewing the remaining five of 17 boxes …

Politico reports: Attorney John Eastman urged Republican legislators in Pennsylvania to retabulate the state’s popular vote — and throw out tens of thousands of absentee ballots — in order to show Donald Trump with a lead, according to newly unearthed emails sent in December 2020, as Trump pressured GOP lawmakers to subvert his defeat. This recalculation, he posited in an …

Mother Jones reports: Former President Donald Trump now owes at least $150,000 in fines for contempt of court stemming from his failure to cooperate with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud investigation into his business practices—and there’s still no indication of when the financial penalties will stop increasing. As has been in the case for nearly every decision …

Talking Points Memo reports: According to a copy of ex-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s memoir, A Sacred Oath, obtained by TPM, Trump demanded that former Gen. Stan McChrystal and former Navy Admiral William H. McRaven be recalled into active duty so that they could be court-martialed for criticizing the President. “So disloyal,” the book recounts Trump complaining to Esper and …

“The individual motivations for the leaks ranged from advancing a preferred policy outcome to enhancing the leaker’s own role or credentials to currying favor with the president. “It was a noxious behavior learned from the top. The president was the biggest leaker of all. “It turned colleague against colleague, department against department, and it was generally bad for the administration …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s top election-subversion wingmen have stonewalled the Jan. 6 select committee for months, but investigators have found a reliable workaround: their deputies and assistants. Time and again, the panel has managed to pierce the secrecy of Trump’s inner circle by turning to the aides entrusted with carrying out logistics for their bosses, according to interviews with lawmakers …

The Associated Press reports: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has interviewed nearly 1,000 people. But the nine-member panel has yet to talk to the two most prominent players in that day’s events — former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. As the investigation winds down and the panel plans a series of hearings in …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump called his former defense secretary a “lightweight” and a “RINO” in response to a “60 Minutes” interview that covered a series of shocking claims about the former commander-in-chief. “Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective and because of it, I had to run the military,” said the statement from Trump to 60 Minutes. “Mark …

“Happy Mother’s Day to all, including Racist, Vicious, Highly Partisan, Politically Motivated, and Very Unfair Radical Left Democrat Judges, Prosecutors, District Attorneys, and Attorney Generals  who campaign unrelentingly against you without knowing a thing, and endlessly promise to take you down. After years of persecution, even the Fake News says there is no case, or, at best, it will be …

The Denver Post reports: Longmont native Jenna Ellis, who worked as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, faces an effort to disbar her in Colorado for her role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. The bipartisan watchdog group States United Democracy Center filed a complaint against Ellis Thursday with the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney …

Politico reports: The Jan. 6 committee cracked open the door to contempt proceedings against former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, after he indicated he intends to bail on a scheduled Friday interview with the panel. “Mr. Giuliani is an important witness to the conspiracy to overthrow the government and he remains under subpoena,” committee spokesperson Tim Mulvey said …

The New York Times reports: President Donald J. Trump in 2020 asked Mark T. Esper, his defense secretary, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels, maintaining that the United States’ involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret, Mr. Esper recounts in his upcoming memoir. …

The Pittsburgh Tribune reports: After initially believing it would assist Secret Service agents during a political rally Friday, the Westmore­land County Sheriff’s Office did an about-face after receiving late legal advice. According to Sheriff James Albert, the county solicitor on Wednesday afternoon contacted his office and advised that deputies should not participate because of possible liability issues that could arise …

NBC News reports: Lawmakers and experts working to prevent stolen elections are sounding the alarm about a scenario they say is both worrisome and foreseeable in 2024 should Donald Trump run: swing-state governors beholden to the former president invoking arcane powers to throw the election his way. Such concerns have prompted a bipartisan group of senators to explore ways to …

CNN reports: Donald Trump Jr., the son of former President Donald Trump, met on Tuesday with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. A person familiar with the interview said it was conducted remotely, lasted a little more than three hours and was cordial. Trump Jr. answered all the questions …

The Daily Beast reports: There’s nothing Donald Trump doesn’t do, or hasn’t done, better than anyone else in human history—or so he claims. His latest whopper came in an interview on evangelical network CBN News taped at Mar-a-Lago. “You know, nobody has done more for Christianity, nobody has done more for religion of all types, than me. And they’re really …

CBS News reports: A New York court has denied former President Donald Trump’s request to put a halt to the $10,000 in daily fines and a contempt order levied by a judge on April 25. Trump was held in contempt after failing to comply with a December 1, 2021, subpoena from New York State Attorney General Letitia James in her …